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Mellon-Sawyer Seminar Series 2017-18 Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation University of Oxford / Oxford Brookes University Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant Reference Number AXR00420 Final Report Table of Contents Summary .................................................................................................................................................................. 1 Recruitment ........................................................................................................................................................... 2 Management ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Semester 1: Textual Commemoration .................................................................................................... 5 Keynote ...................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Panel-Led Workshop 1: Poetry and Life-Writing .......................................................................................... 6 Panel-Led Workshop 2: Conflict and Community ........................................................................................ 7 Postgraduate Event: Memorable Objects ...................................................................................................... 9 Semester 2: Monumental Commemoration ..................................................................................... 10 Keynote ................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Panel-Led Workshop 1: Museums and National Identity ...................................................................... 11 Panel-Led Workshop 2: Grave Stones .......................................................................................................... 13 Postgraduate Event: Commemoration & Creativity Forum .................................................................. 14 Semester 3: Aural Commemoration ...................................................................................................... 17 Keynote ................................................................................................................................................................... 17 Panel-Led Workshop 1: Music and Memory .............................................................................................. 17 Panel-Led Workshop 2: The Rest is Silence ................................................................................................ 19 Postgraduate Conference: Post-War Remembrance, Recollection, Reconciliation ..................... 20 Public Concert: Remembrance ........................................................................................................................ 23 Public Poetry-Reading: ‘A Crack of Light’ .................................................................................................... 25 Media ..................................................................................................................................................................... 25 Impact and Legacy ........................................................................................................................................... 25 Summary The Mellon-Sawyer Seminar Series Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation took place at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University in 2017-18. The Co-Convenors were Professor Kate McLoughlin (Faculty of English, University of Oxford) and Dr. Niall Munro (Department of English and Modern Languages, Oxford Brookes University). Our aim was to explore and compare the ways in which commemorative practices both contribute to and challenge post-war reconstruction and reconciliation across cultures and time-periods. We brought together academics from a variety of disciplines, policy-makers, figures from NGOs and the charitable sector, military veterans, and—a particularly distinctive feature— Mellon-Sawyer Series 2017-18—Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation 1 creative practitioners: poets, novelists, memoirists, dramaturges, architects, architects, sculptors, and musicians. The first semester (October – December 2017) focused on textual commemoration (words and images), the second semester (January – March 2018) on monumental commemoration (memorials, museums, sculptures, installations, gravestones, battle sites), and the third semester (April – June 2018) on aural commemoration (music, sound and silence). After early discussion by the Research Team, we identified three questions to carry across all three semesters: (i) who is post-war commemoration for, and why? (ii) how does commemoration lead to post-war reconstruction and reconciliation? (iii) what is the future of post-war commemoration? In each term, we began with a keynote event (a lecture or an ‘in-conversation’) featuring a major international figure from the creative arts, and then held two panelled workshops for academics and other specialists, and a post-graduate event. The panel-led events took the form of brief (7-minute) statements by the four or five panelists, followed by chaired plenary discussion, directed discussion in break-out groups, and final chaired discussion in plenary again. In the final term, we also had a public concert—Remembrance—in Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre featuring the Southbank Sinfonia and the Parliament Choir, and a public poetry-reading. Recruitment We began by recruiting a post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Catherine Gilbert, who came to us from King’s College London. The international field of applicants—66 in total—was extremely strong and we were hugely impressed by the achievements of the vast majority of the applicants. Dr. Gilbert, a specialist in francophone Rwandan women’s literature, joined us on 1 July 2017. Dr. Gilbert’s principal responsibilities were to work with the Co-Convenors to shape the Series’ intellectual content; create, maintain, and develop a social media presence for the Series; discharge administrative and organizational duties in connection with the Series (including managing the budget); act as a source of information relating to the Series; direct and mentor the three postgraduate fellows; and represent the Series externally. Dr. Gilbert discharged these duties with aplomb and proved invaluable. We also recruited three postgraduate fellows: Alexander Donnelly, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Oxford; Johana Musálková, another doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Oxford; and Rita Phillips, a doctoral candidate in psychology at Oxford Brookes University. Our funding application was originally for two postgraduate fellows, so we were delighted that the boost to the pound followed by the Brexit referendum allowed us to appoint a third. All three made major intellectual and administrative contributions to the Series (from suggesting the format for the panel-led workshops to reporting back to plenary on the Mellon-Sawyer Series 2017-18—Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation 2 discussions of break-out groups to chairing panels at the postgraduate events) while continuing successfully to work on their doctorates. The Research Team After the Aural Commemoration Keynote Event L-R: Niall Munro (co-convenor), Johana Musálková (postgraduate fellow), Rita Phillips (postgraduate fellow), Kate McLoughlin (co-convenor), Jonathan Dove (composer), Patrick Toland (poet-in- residence), Kate Kennedy (broadcaster), Susie Campbell (poet-in-residence), Alex Donnelly (postgraduate fellow), Catherine Gilbert (postdoctoral fellow) We also appointed an informal advisory board, comprising John Lord Alderdice (Liberal Democrat peer, peace negotiator and psychiatrist), Jeremy Treglown (author and former editor of the Times Literary Supplement), and Dr. Justine Shaw (early career academic and participant in the Ambitious Futures programme at Oxford). We asked the board to give us an ‘outside’ view of the Series, from both senior and junior perspectives. They have been immensely supportive, providing us with feedback on our events as the year progressed and advising us on speakers and participants. The first panel-led workshop in Term 1 was attended by the Anglo-Welsh poet Jenny Lewis, a tutor on Oxford University’s Master’s in Creative Writing. Following her suggestion, we recruited five poets-in-residence for the Series (Susie Campbell, Sue Zatland, Mariah Whelan, Dahmicca Wright, and Patrick Toland). The poets attended and participated in events and in planning meetings, and put on the poetry reading at the very end. Their poems have featured on our blog and we plan to include them in the possible publication emanating from the Series. Mellon-Sawyer Series 2017-18—Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation 3 Management The Co-Convenors and Dr. Gilbert held regular—approximately weekly—meetings (sometimes by Skype). The postgraduate fellows attended the major planning and debriefing meetings. The Co-Convenors held an appraisal meeting with Dr. Gilbert in the third Term—an opportunity to reflect on what she had learned and accomplished. We kept a shared folder online in which to track administrative tasks. For each ‘In Conversation’ event, we briefed the interlocutor extensively, and we did the

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